Clouds darkened the skies at the stadium today. They fielded: Germanakos - Panigrahi, Hutter - An Keng, Mohammad Harun, Keng Chuan, Parvathaneni, Trindade - Ze Han, Xin Seng, Chitre.

Lineup: Soekhlal - Corvera, Vilar, Oset, Henţea, Fortó - Gómez, Kauffmann, Centurión - Tuhkanen, Zahatňanský.

Grilled Birds trundled out to the pitch in a 2-5-3 formation. The visitors, Deóbriga, chose to start the game with a 5-3-2 lineup. Grilled used their mythical (17) ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the field. After 4 minutes, Grilled were awarded a free kick. Rather than shooting straight at goal, the kicker went for an indirect variant which seemed to take his teammates a bit by surprise. Gandhik Chitre did manage a finish, but from an awkward position, sending the ball out of bounds. Down the middle came Rafel Fortó, making a fantastic play that nearly saw Deóbriga take the lead after 17 minutes, but Dimitris Germanakos preserved the tie. Grilled's Chan Ze Han tried to break through the middle repeatedly, but the visitors' defenders were just too alert. Grilled players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. Moey Xin Seng's name was chanted throughout the stadium after his goal in minute 23 following a run up the middle gave Grilled the 1 - 0 lead. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Grilled set the tempo, maintaining 63 percent of possession.

With the clock showing 46 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Kalki Parvathaneni looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Chia Kwang Tse, though he would have liked to continue. 46 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Bilal Mohammad Harun gave Chad Thach a quick hug as he left the field. After 60 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving Moey Xin Seng off. Teo Chuan Yong took his place. The match ends 1 - 0. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 62 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Grilled's best player was Chan Ze Han. Good thing Paulino Trindade isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance. Most important Deóbriga player was Stanislav Zahatňanský. I can't remember Borger Soekhlal ever having a worse night than he just had.